Newsletters

On behalf of the IFRTT Board, I would like to wish you everything of the best for 2014, and trust that you had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas holiday season. In the southern hemisphere, the summer holidays are coming to an end – many businesses open tomorrow, 6 Jan, and most schools in South Africa start during the week of 13 Jan. Today is exactly a month since the passing of what I came to realise was a most remarkable man. From the day after his death until after his funeral on 15 December, there was virtually 24-hour television coverage... Read More

Dear Reader, In the north of Germany there is an impressive remnant of the Nazi regime, called the Colossus of Prora. It was intended to be a seaside resort for the working class. The building complex has a total length of 4.5km consisting of 5 blocks each with a length of 500m. It has the capacity to accommodate 20.000 people, but was never used as originally intended. In the times of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the building was used by the military. For the current authorities it is a major challenge to find a purpose for development. The concrete... Read More

Winter in Pretoria has finally arrived, so we are having to deal with early morning temperatures of around 0°C, but which rise to around 20°C by midday – sympathies accepted.  This more-or-less matches the spring weather I experienced in the UK at the beginning of May. I spent last week in Cape Town, where we had a few days of cold, wet and windy weather, typical of the “Cape of Storms” during winter. In South Africa, the media has been focussing on the serious health condition of Nelson Mandela, who is still receiving medical care in a Pretoria hospital, and... Read More

  Hello from the beautiful city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, probably better known now thanks to the new Pope Francis. So, what’s going on in the South and Central American region, with regards road heavy vehicles?  I can tell you there is PLENTY and it’s POSITIVE! The region is expected to grow around 4% GDP this year, and the question of how to transport that growth, mostly coming from commodities such as grains and mineral ores is finally starting to be asked. Shortly after HVTT12 in Stockholm last September, Bob Pearson paid a visit to Argentina. Only in October we... Read More

Greetings from the deep south, It has become mandatory to begin these newsletters with a weather report.  Here we have had one of the driest summers on record.  The whole of the North Island is officially in a state of drought which is causing significant issues for our farmers.  The Minister of Finance has claimed that the cost to the economy could exceed $2b.  However, for the rest of us it feels like it has been a great summer. We have recently had an issue arise here with the stability of trucks carrying high-cube ISO containers loaded to near maximum... Read More

Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber One last pinprick of the winter is expected this week. But you can see the birds are getting ready for springtime. In Europe, weights and dimensions of trucks are regulated in the guideline 96/53 although there are attempts in some countries to increase productivity. However in a country such as Germany, this is a sensitive subject. On January 17th, I was invited to attend a presentation of the research program on the Long-truck trial in Germany. At that time 35 of these 25.25m/40T combinations were in operation. The trial started in January 2012 and will end... Read More

Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber A very successful HVTT12 conference in Stockholm has come and gone, and preparations for HVTT13 in October 2014 in San Luis, Argentina, are well underway.  As you have already been informed, the HVTT12 papers are available on the IFRTT website, www.road-transport-technology.org. In my first IFRTT newsletter in July 2010, I gave an account of the excessive delay our family experienced at the Botswana border post during a road trip to Namibia. In particular, I mentioned the negative impact such delays experienced by heavy vehicles have on regional road transport efficiency.  Since then, there has been some... Read More

Greetings from the South, Daylight saving finished here last weekend which is a clear message that summer has finished.  The way the weather has been this year many locals are wondering whether summer ever started.  The temperatures are still quite mild – low 20s (that’s Celsius for the North American) but it hasn’t been consistently settled or sunny all summer – just like the world economy. A major event that we have had here recently is that on March 25th at 5am the give way rules changed.  Interestingly for us older people they have changed back to being substantially the... Read More

Greetings from a warm and sunny South Africa! Christmas in the southern hemisphere is associated with summer holidays, which in South Africa means that from the beginning of December (when schools close) hundreds of thousands of people head for the coast and the beaches or to visit their families, particularly from the densely populated Johannesburg-Pretoria area.  Unfortunately, this also brings serious fatal crashes, particularly when passenger vehicles are involved. Almost two weeks ago I drove from Pretoria to Durban (650 km) with my two teenage children to visit their Grandma. We left at 05:45 and I heard on the 06:00... Read More

Greetings from the South, As you northerners now enter your winter we are approaching summer.  Here Christmas is a time for summer holidays, going to beach and eating barbecued food outside with a beer.  However, many, if not most, of us trace at least some of our ethnic origins back to Europe and so we still have Santa Claus travelling in a sled towed by reindeer – someone may like to calculate his carbon footprint. Our colleagues in Sweden are now well underway with the preparations for HVTT12 which will be held in Stockholm from September 16 – 19 next... Read More

Dear IFRTT Form subscriber We are in the middle of spring and the African sun is already helping to us to prepare for another hot summer. Fortunately we have had good spring rains in many parts of the country.  But many South African eyes are pointed further south – at the Rugby World Cup currently taking place in New Zealand.  One of the critical matches takes place on Sunday when South Africa plays Australia in the semi-finals. The South African government is currently proposing the introduction of a CO2 tax of somewhere between US$10 and US$25 per ton of CO2... Read More